Every year, smoke and fire damage to residential and commercial properties causes significant loss to property owners and insurance companies. In some instances an entire structure can be destroyed without any possibility of restoring the original structure. When that occurs the only option may be to rebuild the entire structure. In less severe instances, damage is more limited and restoration may be possible. Every occasion of fire damage is unique and must be evaluated for the type and degree of damage from light to very severe damage. Light damage generally occurs without damage to the underlying structure of the building, and may only involve residual smoke deposits such as soot on surfaces, often requiring only external cleaning. Moderate damage encompasses residual deposits, odors, and heat damage to furniture and appliances. Severe damage is more extensive, generally compromising structural components of a building such as the framing.
Many modern buildings and homes are insulated with polymeric foams such as polyurethane. While advantageous from an energy efficiency standpoint, foam insulation can cause severe smoke damage in the event of a fire. Smoke damage in foam-insulated structures can occur very quickly, even when a fire is quickly extinguished. When this happens, the primary damage to a structure may be from the smoke, rather than from the flames of the fire.
Restoring a building or home in the wake of a fire generally involves an appraisal or assessment of the damage by contractors and insurance companies to decide on the most cost-effective way to restore or rebuild the structure.
When a structure damaged by smoke possesses a brick veneer siding, it is standard practice in the industry to demolish the smoke-damaged brick veneer wall and rebuild it, because the inner surface of the brick veneer acts like a sponge that absorbs and then emits obnoxious smoke odors to the surrounding environment including the living space. This is especially the case with foam insulated structures owing to the extensive, high pressure smoke produced by flaming and/or smoldering polymeric foam. Extensive renovations are therefore common practice in cases of smoke-damage to brick veneer wall structures.
There remains a need for improved, lower-cost, brick veneer wall structures that are restored after sustaining smoke damage, and for less costly methods for restoring smoke-damaged brick veneer walls, without the need for a complete demolition of the wall structure.